Dharamsala, July 13
Former Chief Minister and national vice-president of the BJP Shanta Kumar will not return to state politics. Talking to The Tribune at his residence in Palampur today, the seniormost leader of the BJP in the state when asked if he would make a comeback to state politics, said, “I won’t return to state politics. I am happy being a Rajya Sabha member.”

He said his situation in Himachal politics was quite different now. He was the only surviving member of the “old stock of the BJP” that raised the party in the state. Shanta Kumar, however, added that he would campaign for the BJP and play an active role in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

On the survey conducted by the party to assess the “winning ability” of candidates, Shanta Kumar said it would be one of the criteria for selecting the candidates. “A survey cannot replace the experience of local leaders of the BJP. The survey has been conducted by an agency hired by the party. An agency that has spent a few days in the state cannot adjudicate the right candidates,” he said.

The party would rely on clean image and the winning prospects of candidates while giving the ticket. After the Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev movements in the country, people were relying on candidates with a clean image. The BJP would try to respect the sentiments of people while deciding the party ticket, he said.

Shanta Kumar said he was of the view that the elections in the state should be held in one go.

On HLP leaders, Shanta Kumar said, “I am afraid it might affect the party prospects in some seats. However, it remains to be seen who loses or gains due to the third front in the state.”

Asked how the BJP would counter the anti-incumbency factor in the state, Shanta Kumar said it worked only in case a better alternative was available with the people. However, the popularity of the Congress in the country has nosedived due to “poor governance” of the UPA government.

The present UPA government was the “most helpless government” the country had seen since Independence. The entire country was reeling under price rise and corruption, but the Union Government was sitting helplessly. Now, even the foreign media had started pointing an accusing finger at the ability of the country’s Prime Minister, which was unfortunate, he said.

Asked about the leadership crisis in the BJP at the centre, Shanta Kumar said at present there was need to “discuss the future Prime Minister”. The decision should be taken on the issue at an appropriate time. The BJP had not projected anybody as the prime ministerial candidate for the time being, he said.

On differences in the NDA regarding the presidential elections, Shanta Kumar said it would have been better if the alliance had put up a united face in the presidential elections. However, the NDA would emerge as major alternative for the present UPA in next Lok Sabha elections, he said.

Shimla, July 13
Having undertaken “vulnerability and mapping” of hot spots along with identification of high footprint sectors like the industry, especially cement plants, Himachal will become the first state in the country to have its own environment master plan (EMP), heralding green growth in the hill state.

Vulnerability and sectoral guidelines have been prepared for all 116 tehsils and sub-tehsils so that priorities can be fixed for policy making. The exhaustive work has been undertaken by the IRG group, an international consultant in the field of environment.

The EMP is expected to be an important document that will help indicate the environment index of a place and accordingly decide future planning and development. This can help put a check on unregulated growth of certain towns which are saturated from the tourism point of view or keeping a polluting and environmentally degrading industry out of an area with a very high environment index and high vulnerability.

With guidelines for a high footprint sector like the industry, especially cements plants and tourism and transport projects, efforts will be made to identify trade-offs as well. In order to meet the challenge of achieving green growth, environmental and social sectoral guidelines have been prepared for 16 main sectors.

“We are in the process of fine-tuning the draft document so that it can be placed before the Committee of Secretaries, whose approval will pave the way for its submission before the state Cabinet,” said Nagin Nanda, Secretary, Environment.

He added that the task of preparing the EMP was taken up to ensure the sustainability of environmental heritage and natural resources to develop a long-term perspective for achieving sustainable development.

The Department of Environment has held consultative workshops with stakeholders like the departments of Industries, Tourism, Power, Public Works and Forest so as to encourage them to prepare sectoral guidelines and the action plan. “It is the department concerned which is the best judge to draw the line and identify the dos and don’ts to mitigate the adverse impact of development,” said Nanda.

This would help address issues of ecological and environment restoration and bring convergence along with development activities. Most importantly the preparation of the EMP would help take decisions on future financing and investment for development in a sustainable manner.

Shimla, July 13
With the stalemate at St Bede’s College still continuing, the staff have demanded the appointment of an administrator by the government to tide over the crisis.

The impasse at the college continued for the fifth day today as the teaching as well as non-teaching staff did not perform their duties. The staff have decided to meet Chief Minister PK Dhumal on Monday to seek the appointment of an administrator so that the issue of salary anomalies can be resolved.

“We have already written to the Chief Minister, the Education Minister, the Secretary, Education, and the Director to intervene in the matter and take an appropriate decision so that the college can function normally,” said Ajay Sud, president of the St Bede’s Lecturers Association.

He said the UGC-aided teachers would resume duty only once the management fulfilled the responsibility of paying 23 per cent DA and allied benefits along with restoring the employees’ provident fund (EPF) as per the HP University statute.

The teachers have resorted to a non-cooperative movement following a reduction in their EPF from 23 per cent to 12 per cent from June. The teachers point out that there are several other issues as well where they have gone out of their way to cooperate with the management keeping in view the poor financial health of the college, but the reduction in their EPF was totally unjustified.

Only about 20 contractual teachers took classes. Otherwise, all teaching work remained suspended. There are about 850 students, including 100 boarders, in the century-old college.

Mandi, July 13
Residents in this temple town are up in arms against the state government as it has failed to provide “500 kW of free electricity” from the 110-MW Shanan power plant.

They stake this claim of free electricity, citing the agreement signed between the then king of the former Mandi state and the then British Government in 1932-33 when country’s first hydropower project was commissioned by the then Viceroy of India.

After the electricity board disconnected streetlights here last week, resentment among residents, who came from across the region, is building up against the government.

As the series of meetings with the HPSEB remained futile, the Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) and members of the Citizens Council today held a meeting and decided to take up the issue with the Chief Minister.

President, Citizen Council, Mandi, YN Vaidya, said the council had requested the Chief Minister to solve the issue.

“The town is supposed to get 500 kW of free electricity from the Shanan power plant since 1932-33 as per the agreement signed between the then raja of Mandi and British but there is no mention of it anywhere in the board,” he asserted.

Though the state is lobbying to get back the project from Punjab, but the board has been getting 500 kW of free electricity from the Punjab State Electricity Board, which controls the 110- MW Shanan power project since 1966 after the Punjab Re-organisation Agreement was signed between Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

Residents have been facing tough times in night hours in the town as the HPSEB disconnected all street lights here last week on the ground that the MMC has not paid a single penny to the board for the past 12 years and the bill has shot up to Rs 8.64 crore.

HPSEB’s chairman RD Dhiman said the board would disconnect the power supply permanently if the 30 per cent of the pending bill was not paid in a few days.

“The board is getting a negligible share from the Shanan project and he is not aware about the agreement as of now,” he added.

Shimla, July 13
Expressing concern over a liquor vend near the main gate of Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Sundernagar, the HP High Court has directed the Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Mandi, to conduct a joint inspection of the area and report the distance between the liquor vend from the college gate.

The court has sought a report in this regard within three weeks.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice DC Chaudhary passed these orders during the hearing of a public interest litigation by residents of Pungh and Sundernagar alleging that a liquor vend had been opened on the main gate of the college. The matter has been listed before the court for further hearing on August 2.

Kangra, July 13
Pensioners from Kangra, Una, Chamba and Hamirpur districts today gathered here in the Rajput Bhawan under the banner of the Himachal Pensioners’ Kalyan Sangh (HPKS) and took out a protest rally from the bhawan and passed through markets of the town. They raised slogans in support of their demands and against the state government. Later, they held a protest meeting at the Rajput Bhawan.

They alleged that during the previous Assembly poll in 2007, the BJP poll manifesto assured fulfillment of pensioners’ demand of bringing their financial facilities at par with Punjab. TD Thakur, secretary general, HPKS, warned the state government that if their demands were not met they would adopt a different mode of action.

BD Sharma, state president, HPKS, while addressing pensioners said the HPKS had been raising these demands for the past some years but to no avail.

Hem Raj Chandel, member state executive, HPKS, demanded that pensioners of the HRTC and the HPSEB be treated at par with other pensioners of the state and if the government was not satisfied with the these bodies then these should be converted into departments.

Kangra, July 13
“Over 130 sweepers and laundry workers resorted to a strike at the Tanda medical college this morning. They held a meeting and a protest at the college gate demanding their salary and arrears, which was scheduled to be paid to them before July 7.

Work suffered in the 500-bedded hospital when Class IV sweepers abstained from work leaving the sanitation of the hospital in a mess.

Heavy rain in the town this morning made the situation worse in the hospital.

Rajni, president of the DRPGMC’s CITU unit, alleged that they were working with the contractor, who did not pay their monthly salary which he was supposed to pay by July 7.

She alleged that their arrears too were not disbursed to them as yet.

She said 117 sweepers and 13 laundry workers had been demanding their salary and arrears through this protest.

She said on May 16 they were forced to resort to the protest. Later, their salary of over one month was deposited in their accounts.

Rajni alleged that the contractor was not providing shoes and gloves well in time to them.

Protesters alleged that they were not even being given the holiday facility. Later, they called off their strike in the afternoon when the contractor, Susheel Kumar, disbursed their salary.

Dr Dinesh Sood, medical superintendent, said the strike was called off after their salary was disbursed to them.

He added that the DRPGMC had outsourced the sanitation work of the institute and were disbursing over Rs 7.17 lakh every month to the contractor for the payment of 117 sweepers.

Solan, July 13
In a major relief to villagers whose land had been acquired for the construction of a dam in Renuka tehsil of Sirmaur district in December 2008, the Green Tribunal has directed the land acquisition officer to consider payment of compensation after vacating its earlier stay imposed in July 2011.

The tribunal, in its order of July 10, has stated that the compensation should be awarded wherever it does not attract the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act.

The orders were issued on a petition filed by residents of Lana Macher, Lana Masoor, Unger Kandoo and Dheer Bhagar villages of Renuka tehsil before the Green Tribunal in December 2011 through their counsel MP Kanwar where they had contended that the denial of compensation was discriminatory and was causing a monetary loss to them.

They stated that since the acquisition was complete, the proceedings for awarding compensation could not be stayed. The project had come under a controversy as the Ministry of Environment and Forests declined it the mandatory environmental clearance.

Residents of four villages pleaded that the stay on the announcement of award would adversely affect thousands of people as under Section 23(1A) of the Land Acquisition Act they would not have been entitled to any claim on the interest from the date of the stay order till the stay was vacated. This was not only contrary to the principle of natural justice but was also causing monetary losses to villagers whose land had been acquired.

The land was acquired in December 2008 by the collector by issuing a notification by invoking the urgency clause under Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act under which the collector can take possession of the acquired land/house within 48 hours by paying 80 per cent of compensation amount. But no compensation was paid to the claimants.

The villagers did not cultivate the land since 2008 to 2012 and were thus deprived of the agricultural income from this land and also the interest due to the delay until the forest clearance was awarded to the project.

Since no construction activity was being carried out on the land till the forest clearance was sought, it was unfair to deprive the villagers of their due especially when compensation of Rs 19,90,10,005 to eight villages, whose 1108.05 bighas of land had been acquired, had already been disbursed when the stay was ordered.

The total land which is under proposed acquisition is 1,060 hectares. Therefore, the remaining villagers should also be paid compensation without further delay.

Dharamsala, July 13
The SBI authorities in Kangra are allegedly not heeding the advice of the police to prevent ATM frauds. The police has repeated advised the SBI authorities to improve security in their ATMs, especially at Palampur where gangs of youths have repeatedly hacked SBI ATMs and caused a loss to customers.

Kangra SP Diljeet Singh Thakur said he had asked the SBI authorities to improve the security after some technical frauds were reported from Palampur-based ATMs of the SBI. However, the authorities had not taken any action. “I will now write to the higher authorities of the SBI to take appropriate steps so that the interests of the customers are protected,” he said.

Sources said some youths were using a technical flaw in the SBI ATMs at Palampur to dupe consumers. At Palampur, the SBI authorities have installed two ATMs in one cabin. Since there is no security guard outside the ATMs, generally these are full of people, especially in this rainy season.

The sources said the miscreants were taking the benefit of a technical flaw in the SBI ATMs. “They hang one of the ATMs in the cabin by inserting a matchstick or toothpick under the digits. As the customer swaps his card, the machine shows the transaction as invalid. Even if the customer tries to cancel the transaction, he cannot do so as the machine is hung and buttons of the ATM do not work. The customer then moves to the other machine and completes his transaction. The miscreants who keep standing in the ATM note down the PIN number of the customer and then steal money from his account from the hung ATM in the same cabin.

As per the video footage of the frauds collected by the police, in certain cases the miscreants kept on standing in the ATMs for about one hour waiting for the right opportunity. Had the ATMs been guarded, the frauds would not have been possible.

The SP said since such frauds were happening only in case where two ATMs were installed in a single cabin, they had advised the SBI authorities to install only one machine in a cabin.

The SBI authorities said they generally advised the costumers against allowing anybody inside the ATM when they are doing a transaction. “We are also taking corrective steps to protect the interests of the customers,” they said.

However, in case of technical frauds in which the miscreants are hanging machines to dupe customers, the SBI has to take measures to improve security and technology to protect the interests of the customers.

Palampur, July 13
The Palampur Welfare Forum has demanded a ban on the entry of all heavy vehicles in the town. At a meeting here yesterday, the forum asked the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, to issue a notification to this effect immediately as the traffic situation in the town had gone from bad to worse in past one year because of the rise in the number of vehicles.

Addressing mediapersons here, Ajit Bagla, president of the forum, said the narrow Mandi-Pathankot national highway passing through the town had become a major traffic hazard. Despite the fact that the Holta byepass was operational for traffic, all heavy vehicles, including long-route buses, were still entering the town resulting in frequent traffic jams. He said the forum had already informed the SDM of Palampur in this regard.

Bagla said it had become difficult to move on foot in markets. In a number of accidents, pedestrians had been hit by two-wheelers. Though the district authorities were well versed with the situation, steps had not been initiated so far to improve the traffic system of the town. Bagla also demanded the shifting of the taxi stand outside the town as it was causing traffic congestion. He said the present taxi stand should be converted into a parking lot for light vehicles.